(in which we play high quality rips)
Shoo~f. That's the sound of Futo's nice boat snuggling the dirt outside the human village gates.
She looks up from her seat at the front, dropping a fluffle she was experimentally examining. "Uh- ah, it seems arrival has-... arrived." Good.
...The guard manning the gate has a worried look!
A board off the small boat drops fer us ta walk on, and our punk band raiding party awkwardly scraggles out!
"Ho~h, shit…" My legs in particular feel fun, after Ha-chan sat on me for too long for comfort. Well… I mean- I was comfy, but it was too long to make standing comfy! Actually, this kimono obscures my uh, curiosity in females pretty well.
"We're he~re." Kyouko stretches her little arms… "Woo~."
"Probably on time, at this rate." Mystia gave Futo a neutral stare… "Thank you, wanted-girl."
"Wanted…?" Confused, Futo questioned her comment, before choosing not ta follow up…
...Probably 'cause the guard rose his brows at that! "Wanted?"
"Yeah, at the bar." Mystia covered up her slip-up! "Right, Setsuko?"
...Begrudgingly amused, Futo nodded along. "Yes. Mine pleasure, surely…"
This freakin' keyboard weighs a ton. My arms are made of chicken nuggets and spaghetti, son- I didn't spec into carrying things...!
Staring at us as he stood before the sun-glazed gate, the guard exhaled. "Were it any other day, I wouldn't let you in. What's your band called?"
"Choujuu Gigaku." Mystia smirked, adjustin' her stylin' glasses.
...He began to move to reel up the gate. "Alright…"
You know, I'm surprised at how receptive the town guard is being right now! Holy shit. We just got let in without a fight or anything!
"Mmm~!" Ha-chan hums in excitement! "Hmhmm~!"
Cla- cla- cla- clank. Once more, the gates to the human village creak open, the desolate shitlands awaiting us.
"Thank yo~u." Kyouko gives the guard a wave.
He says nothing back, as we meander on inside…
Aa~h. Back in the dustbowl, dude.
Ahead of us, I can see a whole fuckin' lot of people blocking the way to the square…!
Offset by the huge variety of freakin' obstacles in our way, Futo dryly offers an offer! "Mayhaps I summon another boat? We may traverse over them…"
Mystia shook her head. "No~. We got a plan for this."
"Mmm." Kyouko eagerly gazed ahead at them… "Uu~m. So, Mystia, speaker summoning…"
"Oh, right." Lookin' down at her guitar, Mystia continues. "So, obviously, since we couldn't carry a hundred speakers, they just let us do stuff like this…"
Fwish. She waved her hand, and it glowed green for a moment.
Thunk. Aw. One of the big speakers from before came down… just like, from the sky.
"We can summon 'em for as long as we want." Mystia explains! Then, she begins stepping around it… "They're pretty okay, too. Nice and loud…"
Click. Plugging her microphone in, Kyouko taps on the top-
boof- boof. The thing vibrates, and we all feel it…!
"Quite… powerful." Approaching it herself, Futo rose her brows…! "A device for audio amplification? Such seems… either innocently obnoxious, or simply malicious."
"What the heck're you thinking…?" Mystia makes a weird face at 'er! "It's so we can sing songs and play music and it's actually heard."
This reprisal makes Futo fold 'er fluffy sleeves… "In my day, the ensemble ought to be good enough natively…"
"Raw volume doesn't always mean everything." Hung up on that comment, Mystia debates it… "Plus, speakers do more than amplify, even if that's important. They change how the sound is outputted, too."
Futo snorts! "Oh! So, it's in line with cheating, then…"
Now Mystia's really defensive! "How…!? Well-... look at it this way. When you work a guitar through an amp- otherwise it ain't electric- you can just modify how the… things you play come out. Think of it like tuning a guitar, except on a new level."
Futo seemed more into that explanation. "Oo~h. Ah. Hmm. Thou may know- an ensemble of… valued prominence shouldn't need such innovation in order to move the hearts of those around them."
...Ceasing to care, Mystia nodded. "It's called innovation for a reason. And, not every genre of music is a thirty-dude choir of people banging drums and plucking strings. Not every concert stage is a-... acoustic dome, designed to project noise just the right way. Music's-... it's come farther than that."
Futo sighed. "If thou must…" For some reason, she really seems against progress…! I mean-...
It suddenly all makes sense. This is why she speaks in old! Holy shit!
"Propose thy idea through this crowd, then." Futo demanded! "Time wastes as this group debates."
"I don't like time." Ha-chan states.
...We all take an idle look at 'er!
"Time doesn't like you." Futo retorts.
Ha-chan looks concerned!
"Well- anyway…" Kyouko begins looking around, holding her microphone close…
...And, while she does that, I begin taking a look around to see what she's looking at.
There's a lot of people on the streets ahead, but near us is the desolate freakin' edge between the buildings and the walls…
"Hey." Some guy greets a chick. "You get the bread?"
"...Yeah." She did, in fact, get the bread. "Let's go." They're gonna go fuck that bread.
...To our right, this one guard's got his arms folded. He turns to his pal, who's just standing there like a lunk wit' 'em. "Would everyone just get out of the way?"
...Once I look away from him, Kyouko gets ready to speak!
"Would everyone just get out of the wa~y!?" Hoh, shit! Her voice- she used the guard's voice for that, so it sounded like a really loudass yell-guy hollered at the entire road!
Naturally, people comply on principle!
Fwish! The stereo desummoning, Mystia runs ahead! "Come on!"
The people look around for who the hell said that, since the sound came from above us. Jesus, Kyouko's powerful dude…!
The freakin' river of people, parted and confused, allows us all a way to freakin' run like hell to the front!
Woosh! Futo runs ahead, her legs moving impossibly fast as she just freakin' half-stumbles, half-sprints into infinity…
Ho- holy, shit, Kyouko and Mystia are way faster than me! Like- ohp, they're already halfway across the sprint…
Lugging up this big damn keyboard, I lumber in their wake like heavy weapons guy. I'm so slow, dude! Weren't humans built for running!? I regret not speccing into human power…!
Ohp- whah!? Ah… Ha-chan came up and harassed me, dude. With her arms under mine, she's half-carrying me across the width. We're not going much faster… but we are going faster!
...I should've put this thing in my bag, now that I think about it. Getting it out would be a bitch, though.
Villagers see me, but don't quite dare to infringe on my space yet, since the voice of god himself called down from above and told them to get outta the fuckin' way.
We reach the other side!
...The fluffy girls are all here, standing in a line of sorts… a group-based line.
"Hehehe~!" Sanae runs from the stand near the twin stages! "Wait for me, guys!" Who's she following…? Ah, shit. Too many noobs!
...So, here we all are. With her group gone, ours meanders forward…
"Hi~." Lyrica gives us a tiny wave. "Oh- wow! You actually found people!?" She looks at me, surprised!
"Get ow~ned, noob!" Wahaha! "Get owned…"
...The girls look at me like I had a stroke! An' then they look back ahead…
"So, um…" Looking anxious, Lyrica asks the good question. "What's… your band's name?"
"Choujuu Gigaku." Mystia announces! "Me and her are the main proponents." She patted Kyouko on the shoulder, who was snuggly and tiny. "Everyone else is fill-in."
"...Fill-in fo~r…?" This interested Lyrica, who looked up from the roster paper she was workin' on!
"Actually skilled people." Mystia- oof! How's she know already, dude…!?
...Lyrica grins at that! "Well, okay. Uuh- if you go behind the stages, there'll be some booths for waiting and stuff. You'll take the one marked eighth." Aw. We're the eighth noobs…
In the air behind us, weirdly suspended over the actual road and the people beneath, was a judge booth thing for some loons. I can't see who's up in it, right now, 'cause it's pretty high up. It's like four fucking stories tall!
Breeze passes through our leather shit while we move for the rightmost… booth things.
"Quite a gathering…" Futo is impressed by the amount of villagers! "For a youkai exhibition, at that. Even more reason for mine valor…"
...Kyouko just shoots 'er a worried look as we walk along. Mystia doesn't feel like fighting her, either.
"Are fluffles youkai…?" I shoot Futo a ginger look.
...She furrows her brows. "We- well, yes. What- thou believe them to be animal or human…?"
"I believe them… to be soft." They're soft.
...She doesn't have a lot to say now, dude. Now she just looks lost…
After rounding some scaffolding and wood and stuff, we pass a curtain, a~nd… hoh. There's like, an aisle back here of curtains, of a buncha different colors.
On each curtain we see, there's a number. Each booth has no roof, they're just-... booths, with curtain walls. Each aisle seems fits for a lot of occupants, if every band just gets one little one!
...I look behind us, and see the villagers moving through the tiny route allowed to get them off the road all these booths were positioned on. Only two sides of the twin-stage structure are accessible visually! Kinda weird but s'all you can do in the middle of the entire village like this.
We find booth number eight! It's toothpaste colored…
Brushing past the curtain and moving inside, we find a little picnic table left for us, and some bench seats. Aw…
"Nice place, huh." Mystia sounds a little bitter…! "That door ahead... looks like how we'll get on stage." Oh?
Oh, yeah, that is a door, huh. The back wall of the stage is this big chunky ass door thing… which looks like it'll slide open down the middle.
"Neat…" Kyouko likes it, though! "We should get ready. We dunno when it'll begin…"
"Yeah." Agreein' with this, Mystia meanders towards the table… "Let's set our things down, and start organizing."
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
With our instruments and stuff set down, we start really thinkin' about what the hell we're gonna do. This whole situation is a little intimidating, 'cause I don't actually know how to play the keyboard…!
"...So." Kyouko smiles at us, dude! "We know how to play our songs… but you guys don't!"
"Not that they'd add anything." Mystia goes right for the gut punch…! "Anyway. Our songs are like- just what we know really. And, don't really need accompaniment. We're not really formal about this whole thing." Oh. I guess this ain't so bad…
Kyouko is still smiling though, dude! "We practice a bit, but we just kinda wing it. Music for us is very… by-feel, you know?"
Aw. Wing it, like Mystia has wings, dude. Ahah… aah.
Time to commit keyboard sudoku, dude. Leaning over it as it rests on the table, I ready to slaughter myself with it!
click. I slide on the 'on' switch, 'cause it's electrical. I did not, in fact, carry an actual grand piano in these arms.
And I play, dude. Oh man, do I play. I slap my hands against the keys, and create…
Noise. I have made audible things, dude. Dinky piano noises! Aw. I can play the song that goes beep-boop-boop-bop, dude!
...What the hell does this thing have a numpad for? Can you fucking call people with this!? Hit people up on the keyboard!
Let's type in 'sixty nine' and see what that gets me.
...After I do so, the '001 Grand Piano' thing on the little LED screen becomes '069 '. Uh…
I plod my hands on the keys again. Midi-produced string sounds come from the keyboard.
Holy shit. This keyboard's a midi-bank!
...I grin at the girls as I drone out the good strings, dude!
"What-... on earth." Futo is invested again! "Genuinely…?"
Oh man, now I gotta see what the fuck other numbers are. Let's try thirty four!
Aw. Wh- xylophone…!?
Dink. Oh god. Di- dink, dink dink…
Futo's brows raise even higher, as I press more keys!
"Oo- oh, no…" Kyouko beams! "That's ridiculous…"
"That electric keyboard is a disgrace." Mystia immediately talks it down! "Never set it to xylophone mode again." Wahaha!
...Ha-chan's leaning over my shoulder, lookin' smug about it too…!
"Spooky scary skoolatoo~ns…!" I tap keys with no actual intent as I speak! "Send shivers down your spine!"
"Noo~." Mystia refuses! "That- no…!"
Aw. We need to play the AVGN theme! Aw, I didn't even download that one to my 3DS. I'm pretty sure it's simple enough to just play by feel anyway. Well- communicate vaguely to the people who can actually play it, that is.
...Oh, wow. I hardly noticed in the sunlight, but there's actually a really big screen mounted just above the booth. Just above all the booths! As in, each booth gets one…
Right now, it says… something in Japanese. Well then…
"I've yet to obtain an instrument…" Futo supplies! "Therefore, I may take a moment to access mine repository, and return shortly. Any requests?"
...We all stare at her, like loaves on the horizon.
"...Seems not." She begins to turn away-
"Can you get me-..." I stop her.
She turns to me. "Mmm?"
"Some nuggets…" Closing my eyes, I relish in the sense of nuggets.
...She nods! "Sure."
With that, she's off to get her things.
...Mystia takes a seat next ta me. "You don't seem to know how to play that thing."
I shake my head. "I don't at all."
"That's okay." She-... I dunno where she's going with this! "You can either kinda sorta fuck around to add to our rhythm, or you can just like… be the bassline or something. Just don't make a total fucking mess."
Hoh. I'll try…!
Actually- I wonder if this keyboard can be a drum kit, too…
All the shit on it's marked in English, 'cause I guess that's how this product rolls. Plus, it's like, one-word things. Piano. Electric piano. Chromatic… perc? Percussion! Wait…
First thing in the category is 029: Celestial! Aw, Tenshi sounds, dude.
...It's cute, but not a drum! Honh…
Ha-chan sits to my other side! "I wanna hug…"
...I keep pressing the plus key on the keyboard to cycle through the sounds. All of these aren't really a drum thing, just… oh, hey, I found the xylophone again. Yeah- not drums!
While Mystia gets up to do her own things, I look at the categories harder…
Wait. 395 Drum Set. No wonder I didn't see it yet… it's in the three hundreds. I set it there!
...Pressing keys makes drum noises. The black keys're for cymbals, and the main keys are for an array of weird midi shit!
"...What doesn't that keyboard have?" Mystia looks back at the thing, astounded! "What the hell."
Kyouko sits across from us! "It's kinda neat! It's sort of like me, except… with instruments!"
"And, being used by a complete maniac." Mystia stares me down…!
The numbers above three-ninety-five are just subtly different kits, but the number right below it-
Pow. ...It's gunshots!
Pow- pow pow- boo~m. Pow- tick- tick- tatatat- pow! Duhuhu~de! Pressing keys fires the main cannons!
"You know what…" Mystia is appealed! "That could actually be super useful, even in your hands. That piano is fucking scary…!"
"Ho ho ho!" This… is a powerful weapon! I shall become… Merlin's mirror match, dude. The keyboardist who is actually ultra shit, so he just does ambience! And drums. I'm- I'm the piano player who also makes drum noises.
...While I play around with the noises more, Kyouko stands a little… "What was that thing you did earlier? Something about getting songs?"
Hoh shit. "...I did get them outsider songs. Lemme just…"
Oh, man. Having my 3DS at minimal light is tough when it's still day out. Sun can't even hit us super hard- in the asscrack of the festival thing here- but oof. Still gotta squint to see what the fuck's goin' on on the screen...
Opening the music app, I get ready to play what I've freakin' obtained…
It took me forever to collect all these songs 'cause freakin'... had no idea what I wanted to use! And- if I remember a bit, Mystia and Kyouko's cute band thing like… they do yelly metal songs, and rock, which is up my alley indeed!
I made sure to get shit with lyrics, 'cause Kyouko sings, and probably pretty well too. I press play on the first song!
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
"That's interesting…" Kyouko's got her hand to her chin. "Not just the techy device thing- but, those songs are all in English, huh?"
"Ye." I nod at her. "Not sure how badly the language barrier fucks wit' them. I know what I say is probably Japanese, when everything for me is English!"
"I can see that being a problem…" Kyouko agrees…
Contemplatively, she begins ta step around the table… "I really like the rhythm, but I think the lyrics could be… weird, if we don't adapt them somehow. I mean- for one thing, I'm… not great with English naturally. Unless… I tried projecting the original singer's voice, but the language thing going on in Gensokyo might make that weird too."
Wau.
...We look over at Mystia, who's polishing her guitar.
...She notices us staring, and begins to polish faster!
"What do you think, Mysty?" Kyouko ganks her, dude!
Paying attention to us again, she ceases her polishing. "...Well. We've already got stuff practiced, and it's not like we got any time to adapt that stuff. Some of it sounds really hard, too, actually. Like… 'Through the Fire and Flames', that was… something!" Aw.
"Well, give it a try, dude." I give 'er a pointing gesture, and assert myself! "I wanna see!"
...Taking in a deep breath, she cast a hand out-
Thump. An amp came from the heavens!
Click. The guitar's plugged in easily, and she moves her hand to adjust the knobs, probably so it's not so loud...
Ooh! She begins! It's abrupt and loud, the start of the guitaring making me flinch at first. Man. Every time I think to myself 'you know, guitaring looks easy enough to get into', I see how people freakin' position their fingers. Definitely something easy- if you've practiced and got it by feel! Same with playing the keyboard. Meanwhile, here I am freakin', ploppin' my lobster claws on it…!
And, she plays pretty good by feel! I feel like I can recognize a few places where she drops things, but hoh shit! I didn't even notice she had a guitar pick!
She hits the big speed ramp up a few moments into the song! Looking intensely focused, she freakin' wails away at the guitar for awhile. This part's straight forward, but also pretty intense.
And then she gets to the lyrical bit! With the two powerful strums, then a wait. "Fu~..." Exhalation of ventilation, dude...
"On a co~ld winter morni~ng!" Holy shit! Kyouko just starts singing without anything! "In the time before the light!"
She keeps goin' with Mystia's accompanying insanity. "In flames of death's eternal reign, we ride towards the fight!"
The strumming resumes, and Kyouko keeps going! "When the darkness has fallen down, and the times are tough alri~ght- the sound of evil laughter falls around the world tonight!"
"Fighting on- fighting on through the, uhm…" Oh shit. Kyouko loses her words…!
Mystia's playing becomes uh, akin to the song, but I'm not sure where she's going anymore…!
...Kyouko resumes! "So now we fly~ ever free~...!?"
Yeah- Mystia just went off on some insane solo instead now…! "Mmm~...!"
Kyouko looks ginger and fluffy. "Eheh…"
Bra~r! Finishing one last random chord, Mystia looks up at me! "...We're gonna need ya to play that song a few more times. I already forgot like, all of it."
"I forgot the words." Kyouko grins back at me! "And- the techy sounds once or twice in the song, and the drums, those could probably be you."
Wait- oh shit. "Me…!?"
"Yeah you!" She grins wider! "You're a musician now too! And- um, you, what's your face…" She points at Ha-chan!
Ti- ti- ti~ng! Ha-chan wails on her triangle for no reason! "Hello~!"
"Her name's Hana!" I fill in for her!
"You should be playing too, Hana." Kyouko recommends! "Even if it's that outsider song, there should be something for you to do somewhere."
Ti~ng! Ha-chan hits the triangle really hard!
"Maybe." Kyouko somewhat reconsiders her own kindness…!
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
"The sound of evil laughter falls around the world toni~ght!" Kyouko's voice blooms through the booth! This i~s… attempt number three!
While Kyouko yells, Mystia backs her up with an array of chords... "Fighting hard, fighting on for the steel, through the wastelands evermo~re! The scattered souls will feel the hell, bodies wasted on the shores!"
Mystia's constant strums become even deeper to back Kyouko's heightening yells! "On the blackest plains in Hell's domain, we watch them as we go~! Through the fire and pain, once again we kno~w…!"
Fwish. The sound of Futo gently stepping in is just about inaudible. "Um…"
"So now we fly ever free~!" Kyouko and Ha-chan yell into the microphone at the same time! "We're free before the thunderstorm! On towards the wilderness, as our quest carries on!"
Parting from Ha-chan, Kyouko calls over the shifting chords. "Far beyond the sundo~wn!"
Ha-chan floats past the microphone! "Far beyo~nd the moonlight- woah!" An' Kyouko escaped her again…!
"Deep inside our hearts and all our sou~ls!" Jesus, Kyouko! You're gonna wake up the entire lower atmosphere…!
I look back at Futo- and she's just freakin' dumbstruck. Aw- she has a big fluffy harp, too-
"So far awa~y, we wait for the da- a~y! For the lives all so wasted and go~ne!" Kyouko sounds fucking badass over this progressin' guitar…! "We feel the pa~in, of a lifetime lost in a thousand days! Through the fire and the flames we carry o~n!"
Futo's just slack-jawed, as Mystia goes on a brief freakin' interlude solo, while Kyouko collects her breath for the next verse…
There's a brief pause, before Mystia continues, signalling Kyouko ta get started. "As the red day is dawning, and the lightning cracks the sky, they'll raise their hands to the heavens above with resentment in their eyes!"
Braa~r! Mystia blares out a long, different chord! You know- I never realized it listening to it casually, but these different chords are good for signalling to the singer!
Movin' across the booth, Kyouko half-runs! "Running back, through the mid-morning light, there's a burning in my heart! We're banished from a time in a fallen land- to a life beyond the stars!"
"In your darkest dreams- see to believe, our destiny is time!" Holy shit! "And endlessly, we'll all be free toni~ght!"
...Brar. Mystia plays the stopping chord she likes to do, 'cause this is all we really got around to memorizing! Oh yeah- I've been pressing freakin' drum keys too, which I direly need more practice with…
Man- ending the song there feels blue-bally, but such is practice…!
...We all slowly turn to Futo, who's just freakin' blown away.
Brar- brar. Mystia plays two neat little strums to beckon her.
"Wha- what…" Man. Futo is fluffy, dude. I wanna snuggle her. "What-... was that?"
"Music." Kyouko romped up to her… "Hello!"
"Hello~." Ha-chan joined her!
"...Hi." Futo levels with their snuggly assault. "That song… was… it was something else. Are- am I to be expected to accompany such…!?"
"Yes." Kyouko nodded at 'er!
Oh, yeah. The harp Futo brought's like… one of them big floor harps exclusive to Asia. Like, they seem to be like a freakin' board of some kind, with strings on 'em! That's the kinda harp Futo's got!
"Good harp." I comment, to find out!
She makes a plain face at me. "'Tis a koto." A who. A- Tsuruko? Tsukiko…!?
"...Diet coke." Yeah- I missed it, dude. She talked too fast!
"Koto…!" She repeated for me! Okay- s'called a koto! Freakin'... eighty-eight fingers Futo over here!
...Lookin' the koto over, Mystia nodded. "Do you have a way to make that louder?"
Futo actually nods! "Well- there are some sound modification spells, learnt on the prince's request through mine life…"
"Good." This placates her! "Well. Guess we'll get ready for a fourth roundabout…"
Fwi- fwish! Someone new comes through the curtains!
"What in the hell was that…!?" Oh! It's-... um. Give me a moment. Not-Ryuko Matoi…? She's got a red swoosh in her hair!
...All the girls face her stoically! She grins back! "That song was the most badass thing that has and probably will ever come out of this dumb festival. Can I join your band?"
"No." Mystia shook her head. "We don't need you."
"Begone." Futo waved at her! "Speaking of wanted, one individual here is genuinely so…"
"Um…" Kyouko was on the fence!
Red swoosh girl smiled at the reception. "Cool. Y'know- I've used a guitar before, too…"
"Who, are you." I have no clue who she is, still…!
...She smiles at me! "Who the fuck are you? Pft- is that a wig…!? Ah…" Then she looks my entire outfit over… "Kinda weird, but whatever."
"Her name's Seija." Kyouko informs me, 'cause she's a kind friend dog. "She's wanted across Gensokyo."
...Oh. "Why's that…!?" I didn't know Gensokyo had super criminals, dude!
"'Cause everyone's gay." Seija provides the best answer.
"She stole the Miracle Mallet, and, long story short, caused an incident…" Kyouko provides! "Personally- she kinda scares me. But, she's worth a lot of yen if we turn her in!"
"Yeah, good luck." Seija flipped her a middle finger…! "All bark, and no bite."
"Ah, shut the hell up." Mystia gets aggressive back! "What can you do, anyway? Besides play guitar, 'cause I can do that, and probably better."
...Woosh. Seija drew a guitar from her back! "You wanna bet?"
"Is that even yours?" Mystia frowned at her.
"No." Seija shook her head…! "What?" She asks to those who even appear to have a problem with that!
"Just play something." Impatiently, Mystia stepped back…
...Shrugging, Seija began to grin. "Alright!"
rarB- rarB. Oh- shit. She just played… two chords? They sounded weird…
Woosh. Flipping her guitar, so she could hold it the wrong way around, Seija continued playing those weird, hollow kinda notes, that seemed to almost, like… verberate from us, and go towards her. What the fuck…
Is- is she playing actual music backwards…!? That's- possible…!?
".ekaw rieht ni elbbur evael lliw dna ,elbbur morf esor elpoep ruoY" What.
rarB- rarB ,woorB! This is fucking trippy, du~de! ...S'also already over!
After playing her short thing, she grinned at us.
"...As much as it pains me, that's actually useful." Mystia admits, dude… admits defeat…! "We'll deal with her involvement after the concert, then."
"Nice." Seija seems to just revel in being annoying to everyone else. So, like me, except an asshole! "Least pussy band around here. But, you're still pussies."
"Puddy tat." I toht I daw a puddy tat!
...She very briefly glazes over my good comment, with no comment of her own. Oof.
"I'm not a cat." Ha-chan shook her head. "That's silly…"
...Seija gave her a vain stare, before continuing forward into our booth proper! "Okay."
So, here we are dude. Our secret lives as not-rockstars! With kotos, triangles, and drum keyboards.
"Has anyone any music sheets?" Futo proposes! "It would be beneficial for us to consider what to learn, before our skirmish."
...We all give her ginger stares. Mystia bothers to answer. "Nah. We can practice a little, to get our bearings, and we should like, have amatuer coordination, but we don't really need to be proper about it. That's not what we're about."
Once again, Futo looks disapproving! Yet, she knows better than to speak out this time, dude. Probably also because Mystia played pretty well just now, especially for freakin'... a third partial attempt.
Fwoof… fwoof… Aw. Gently, Aya's little wings flap about, as she lowers into our booth. She's got a clipboard held…
"Hello~." She greets us gently at first… "So! You guys probably don't totally know the rules yet! And, that's okay! 'Cause I'm gonna tell ya!" Hoh, shit!
"I was wondering how it'd work…" Mystia is the first to approach her! "This whole band battle thing. Do we take turns?" ...That… is a good question. I never put thought into how this shit would actually work. No one else did either, I think!
"We're trying to make each song viable to reach the end, without major interruption…" Aya supplies! "So, for the sake of time and tidiness, per match one band is chosen to play a song, and the other band plays along. The only band to get judged hard will be the ones hosting the song, so… it's up to you to interrupt that process!"
But then she tilted her head forward! "To an extent. If you just play noise yourself, you're not gonna win yourself any favors. And- you can also just play nothing, but that'd be sort of a waste, wouldn't it? And that's if you're intercepting… if you're hosting a song, well, you just play it."
...So, it's attack and defense, in song format. That's… weird, but sure!
"If the other team's bad enough, you can just play a song over them. The judges- one being me- will tell you." Aya elaborated plainly… "Mostly 'cause, we have some uhm… really trash entries this year. Only a couple, though."
"That's mean." Kyouko didn't like the sounds of that. "Who're you to decide that?"
"It's cool." Seija tries to counter her opinion with her own input!
Aya began to grin! "I mean the fluffles."
"Oh." Kyouko looks wayward and fluffy.
"Ass." Seija looks direct and not-fluffy…!
Floating into the midst of our booth, Aya looks around, before beginning again. "So then! Bands eliminated per round will be based on total score after they play their songs! Or- if we kick 'em out early 'cause they're that crappy. Danmaku will be included just to screw with the playing band, but knocking each other the hell out is not the focus, and won't get you many points alone.
"Bands will all be graded on music, technique and power." I didn't know Aya could look this resolute… "Which, aren't like-... they don't necessarily crossover. An elegant classical piece could send out nukes as danmaku, and therefore get both a good music and power grade- depending on if the danmaku did anything, of course. Technique is how well the playing band survives the danmaku!"
...Ah. In layman's terms: music is music goodness, technique is how well you don't get your shit kicked in, and power is how well you can… counterattack, I guess.
"...How's that work for the attackers?" I ask a questio~n!
"They get graded on not sucking." Aya makes it simple!
I guess technique and music pretty much go hand in hand. If you play bad, you'll get worse technique anyway, probably, even if you didn't take a lot of damage! And if you get fucked hard, you're not gonna play well. I guess at the end of the day that really just disadvantages, like… people who don't counterattack at all, so they don't get a power rating. Or maybe there's a secret bonus for being a total pacifist!
"I wanna muffin." Ha-chan wants a muffin.
Aya shakes her head, but says nothing more. Oh no.
I ask another question! "Is there a bonus… to being completely pacifistic!?"
...After blinking at me, she nods! "Well- yeah. If you don't counterattack at all and still pretty much don't screw up, you can get five extra points in technique and music to make up for the power thing. But that's only if you never fire." Doesn't apply to us, then! Stereos that heal you are too good to let go for the all skill challenge!
...Rotating around like a cuddle bird, Aya smiles at each of us. "So- anyone have any questions? 'Cause we're startin' our rounds!
"What, perchance may the schedule shape as?" Futo is esoteric to her, dude. "So that it may be known…"
Aya actually takes out a like, poster card thing for us. "Ah, right. Here."
Flick- flick. Woah- shit. Mystia just barely caught it, after Aya flung it at her like a freakin' shuriken. "There's the planned schedu~le. Expect changes if weird things happen! And, we're gonna try an' do this all in one shot. Bye~!"
WOOSH! Woah- Jesus! How can a body move like that…!? Fucking- her planet needed her, dude!
...So, now it's just us again.
"Play good." Mystia summarized for all of us! "...Hmm." Then, she read the paper she obtained… "Uh. We're up-"
Fzzt! Oh, shit. The big TV over our booth came alive!
"Hello~!" Aya waved into the camera! "...Cool- it works!"
To her left was Akyuu, the snuggly, and to her right was Rinnosuke the blunt. "Welco~me, everyone! To the~... village band battle festival? I think that's what we call it! Welcome, welcome!"
...The crowd outside is partially enthused! We can hear 'em, dude.
Amid her high booth, Aya gives parameters for the event's proceedings. "...So, while you all get snacks and drinks, I think we'll have something nice and easy to start with."
Y'know, I wonder where the Prismrivers went. Didn't they set up this thing? Maybe they'll be in it!
"Choujuu Gigaku, versu~s…!" Wait- did Aya just call us- "Burlington Fluff!"
VHI~R. Slowly, the metal doors of the stage slid open…
"Wh- wait, us…!?" Kyouko looked surprised!
"We'll just do something we practiced, for now…" Making sure her things and her guitar were all on her, Mystia gave her a nod.
Then, she turned to us. "Rest of you guys, don't fuck it up. Should be able to summon us all an amp or speaker."
Oh, good! 'Don't fuck up', advice that has served me well! Except for the times I have…!
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
...Holy shit these stage lights are bright.
Up here, I can see the opposing stage relatively clearly.
"So bright…" Ha-chan frets over the bright lights in the mid-day. "It's kinda nice…"
Between the big blue sky and the glaring stage lights, I look over the bunch of generic villager people. And… yep, that's a bunch of generic villager people!
This… is kinda nice? I'm just kind of ignoring the scale. Uuh…
Aw! There's our opponents! Populating the stage with fluffs…
There's lots of little, rowdy fluffles. They've waddled into position, set up with a xylophone, and a tuba.
"honh" There's a tubby fluffle, four times the size of any man, who happens from their own door across the stage. It's big dude, and it has two big cymbals strapped to its hands...
Many more fluffles do not have instruments, looking dust-swept in the casual gloom of their stage's dimmed lights.
From this stage, the tiny village houses seem even tinier. I feel like if I jumped, I could see over the rooftops!
The barren dirt between our stages is both barren and dirt. The sun's super bright right now, but I'm sort of eager to see the stage once the sun's set. S'one of those really pretty kind of days.
Thankfully, the pressure is not increased by the villagers. Many of them are going to get their assorted festival snacks, and others are sort of idle so far. You'd think it'd open with the Prismrivers or something, but who knows, dude. The fluffs are really snug looking.
"Fluffles are agreeable." I begin our battle strategy.
"No they're not." Mystia shoots me down…!
"Alright!" Oh, shit. Aya's voice projects across the stage! "Now… the defender will be Burlington Fluff!"
...After taking a moment to look displaced about being here at all, Akyuu smiles at that. "I like that name…"
"Ooh? You like it, huh?" Aya confronts her verbally…!
"Yeah." Staring down at us all, Akyuu looks snuggly. "Good luck, Burlington Fluff!" The judges are already betting against us dude, and our opponent is actually dust.
...And, Rinnosuke is just there. He's Rinnosuke, dude.
So, the initiative to play… is not on us. It's on the fluffles.
...While the crowd gently murmurs and the judges watch expectantly, we too gaze at the moving fluff.
"And, begin!" Aya kicks things off!
...Well.
Things begin slowly, and softly. The fluffles-... I dunno if they're not set up or too set up. Dusty friends sit at the cusp of their stage, shell noses pointed at us.
"We're- supposed to play with them, right…?" Kyouko turns and speaks to us plainly.
Guitar ready, Mystia stared them down… "Yeah."
Thu- thu- thu- thunk! Amps drop from the sky, surrounding us! We're under attack dude! Mystia beckons us ta use 'em. "Here."
While everyone plugs in, the big fluff brings its fins back…
Cli- cli- click. Oh, woah. These amps are all really dialed in! I've also never touched an amp in my life. I only half-knew what an amp looked like, 'cause my father used one for his guitar! Me and freakin' Seija plugged into the same amp.
tink. Ha-chan tried to plug an amp cord into her triangle… which, is just fully metal. Uh…
CLACK! The big fluff smacks the cymbals together!
The one fluffle at the propped up tuba sticks its shell nose into it, but doesn't make any noise.
di- dink. The one on the xylophone fell over onto it.
...The result was a big orange shockwave, which just rolled out like light towards the fluffles at the end of the stage.
fwi- fwi- fwif. "what no" The pointless ones doubled back towards the shockwave, and like fell into it, and died.
...The result was a cloud of dust that's expanding towards us!
bruu~mph. Holy shit, that other fluff actually got the tuba to work.
Like this, they maintained a really awkward, but present rhythm of hitting the cymbals, falling on the xylophone, and blowing into the trumpet- tuba, I mean. Freakin'...!
Aw. Since one of the fluffs has the percussion, I switch to one of the freakin' weird ambient instruments the keyboard has. They're called chromatic percussion, but they seem better suited for like, environment noises.
Eventually, the xylophone nugget person actually just began tapping its xylophone on beat. Holy shit, dude.
Mystia begins strumming. It's a simple five notes she begins playing, and she gets all five of them done just before the tubby one smacks its cymbals.
Ee- eee~! I start pressing keys! Like, in little bursts after the tubby fluff hits its cymbals together!
...Ha-chan slowly begins casually dancing to the neat little beat we've got going.
muuu~D! Seija slowly starts playing really long, weird, echoey notes for the background ambience.
Ee- ee! Ee- ee! I switch to two little notes after the cymbal hits!
...While playing my simple notes, I look over the party!
Futo doesn't know what to think, dude. She's sittin' before her koto with her legs crossed, just sort of examining this freakin' garage band session we've got going in front of a live audience.
Kyouko's awkwardly dancing too, since this song… has no lyrics. It's also kinda awkwardly paced, so it'd be hard to commit to singing too, I'm sure.
fwif- fwoof- fwoof. For some reason, everytime the big fluffle hits its cymbals together, a shockwave just big enough to wipe its own stage comes out. And, every time, there's a fucking ton of fluffles again, and they just die instantly! What the fuck is this…!?
A cloud of dusty brown begins to permeate over our stage…
"Uh- um…" Covering her microphone, Kyouko backs away awkwardly from the incoming dust! "Someone- um…"
Twa- twa- twang. Loud, oriental notes bloom from Futo's koto, as she plucks three simple notes. With this rhythm we've got going, any additional shit also sounds okay! It's a really simple but unspectacular system!
Woo~sh. With her very different, non-electric or gritty notes, a cool breeze blows from behind us…
The gentle, rolling breeze pushes the ruesome dust cloud back the way it came.
thud- thud, thud… When the wind reached the fluffles, they simply floated away with it, looking immeasurably snug as they rode the wind into nothing.
CLACK! Except for tubby cymbal fluff!
Also, since the stages have back walls, all the fluffs that were lost are now stuck to theirs. Man, dude… they're like nugget scallops.
Twi- twing- twang… Futo played three more distinctly Japanese-y notes.
CLACK! The fluffle smashed its cymbals together!
"Hrrm." Frustrated, Futo reeled her arms up. "Sard…"
CLACK! After it smashed its cymbals together again-
Woosh! Futo sent a plate out, whirling towards it!
We all watched it fly batedly, as it whizzed for the fluffle's neck…
It moved to smash its cymbals, just as the plate arrived-
CLACK- FWOOSH! CLATTER- CLA- CLACK…! Holy fucking shit…! So like- it crushed the plate, turned it to shrapnel, and then the plate shards freakin' beheaded it. They had fuckin' streaks of light behind them and everything!
The other sounds were their things falling apart, because yeah.
Futo then plays some fun notes. Sorta reminds me to the beginning of… PCB? The beginning of Letty's stage theme! S'different than everything else, but it's simple and nice…
…
Once she's done for long enough, the audience gives a polite clap, probably unsure of the spectacle they just witnessed.
"Oo~kay…!" Aya nods exaggeratedly. "So! How'd everyone like… that?"
...She turned to Akyuu and Rinnosuke expectedly.
To her right, Rinnosuke held up a card with a big zero. "There was no power or intention, as far as I'm concerned." Hoh, shit. Wonder if Rinnosuke'll be this contest's hardass judge…
Akyuu held up a two. "I thought it was cute…"
...Aya also held up a zero. "Yeah. Uh. Sorry, Burlington Fluff. If-... any of you can hear me."
None of the fluffles left seem to recognize her, instead moving to sniff one another and nuzzle. Aw…
Wait- one does! "im you now"
...Aya looks concerned! "Ok- okay. You can get off the stage, now…"
Vhi~r. The door behind the fluffles began to open. Awkwardly, Lyrica and Merlin float out to start rounding them up…!
Akyuu speaks up, commenting on us. "I will say that Choujuu Gigaku did good with what they had. I didn't know some of those people were musically inclined, either..."
Rinnosuke nodded with her, shifting in his high seat. "Mmm. At the same time… I don't think it takes much. Not for this performance."
"Yeah." Akyuu agreed plainly…
Vhi~r. The door behind us began to open back up, too…
"Anything to say, guys?" Aya called out to us! "Before we send you back into your cell?"
...Kyouko looks put on the spot! Holding up her own microphone, she wiggles. "Ah…? Well- um-"
Sliding up to her, Mystia talks into it. "Put us up against someone real next time."
...Blinking at that, Aya smiles! "Can do, I think!"
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
Man. If only cleaning up instruments in real life was as freakin' easy as waving your hand to send them into an alternate spatial coordinate.
We are now back in our booth! We have… eliminated the burlington fluff factory, I'm pretty sure.
Seija turned to us maliciously…! "Amazing matchup. That was great."
"Oh, shut up."
Creak. Mystia plopped down on one of our bench seats hard. "Fucking… fluffles."
"It at least masked our state of dispreparation." Futo came up to the bench too, and sat her koto down on the picnic table past it, as I did my keyboard. "We may count ourselves fortunate, surely."
"You shut up, too." Mystia didn't want any of their dismal sass! "Anyway. We shouldn't be up too often after this… except for our defense period." Oh, boy!
"We'll be ready!" Kyouko yipped back, nearin' her!
"You'll be ready." Mystia knew. "Everyone else…"
"Shouldn't matter for awhile." Kyouko actually answered her back…! "We've practiced, Mysty."
"...Yeah." Relaxing back into the table, Mystia seemed sated enough fer now…
I wonder how many performances there'll be tonight. Those vendors seemed to be really setting up at the time, so…!
Well. Now we got some gentle moments to relax, dude…
While Seija and Futo looked nuggety, Ha-chan rounds the picnic table to be soft at me. "I thought they were cute…"
"...You're cute." I have nothing else to say, dude.
...She looks displaced!
"So." Turning in her seat across the table, lookin' back at me, Mystia smiles…? "You got anymore songs in that thing 'a yers? Something… perhaps, not as hard or long?" Duu~h… yeah!
"Something erectable, you mean." I wonder aloud, dude.
"Fuck you." Wahaha! "...Well?" Oh- right.
Poppin' it out, settin' it next to the keyboard, I hit the play button on the 3DS. "Ye, ye… ye."
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
"...You know." Seija finally says something, after our like… somethingth listen to this track. "I've got some songs I've come up with on my own."
...Lookin' surprised, Mystia faces her from her playin' position before us. "Huh. Can we hear them?"
Seija becomes contemplative, for a second. Then, she makes a decision. "No."
Uselessness quota reached, dude. The Mystia has disengaged.
"We're still gonna play at least one, though." Seija grinned at them…! "I'm sure you chicks'll get the hang of it."
"Do you have to be a dumbass?" Mystia heckles her back! "What if we say no?"
"I'll play it anyway, when you least expect it." Nodding from her seat, Seija looks freakin' evil…! "And, it'll be clumsy and horrible."
...Rolling her eyes, Mystia doesn't push further. "Whatever. You- nevermind, y'know what, I won't even ask…" Ahah. She has discovered a strategy, dude.
"Wha~t?" Wryly, Seija pushes her… "Go on, bird. What's up?"
...Pressured, Mystia frowns back. "You gonna-"
"Freckles." There is no need to fear. I am here.
...Raising their eyebrows, they look at me.
"Do you like… freckles." I face Seija.
...She just exhales at me!
I was able to let Mystia relax, dude. "Mmh…" And now she's just slouching. Aw…
Fzzt! Oh, shit. The television's turned back on!
"We're going into a~... more apt kickoff event right away!" Aya yells at us, and makes us sad. "Come on ou~t!"
Vhi~r. I hear a door open somewhere dude. All of our booths are settled against the back wall of the stage, probably so we can be seamlessly poured into it…
Moving towards the booth exit, Futo stops to gingerly face us. "I shall partake in a brief visit to the festival stalls. What might everyone desire?"
"I would like-..." What would I like? "Nuggets…"
...She gave a pleading look to everyone else.
"Wate~r." Kyouko beckoned! "I didn't realize how long we'd be here…"
...Turning to her, I hold up a hand! "Actually- hold on, yo. I've got a hanger fer that…"
...At first, Kyouko tries to ignore me, but then I take it out! "Behold!"
"Wha- what…?" She's put off, dude. "No- you idiot. Water."
I turn the valve a little, and it starts leaking…
Again, it takes a moment, but then she's like… "Wh- what…!? Wa- oh, no!"
"Wahaha~!" I have the water now, son!
"That cannot be safe." Futo refuses to believe… "Likely hooked up to a derelict."
"You're hooked up to a derelict…!" I aggress her back! "An' look, trust me…" Tilting my head back, I start ta drink some of the flowing water by holding it over my face- ohp, oh! Got some on my face…!
"Stop. No. Desist." Futo tries to stop me, I think. Not really…
...Kyouko comes up to me anyway! "Gimme…"
"If that's everything…" Slowly, Futo begins to turn out…
"Get some for all of us." Mystia calls out as she leaves. "We're gonna be here awhile."
...Man, there's not really a lot to see in this booth, is there… aside from the TV- oh shit right, it's starting! There's a thing- the bands! We're actually getting a camera view!
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO: SANAE'S PERSPECTIVE ====
Woa~h. Something feels kinda weird… but not anymore. Huh. Guess I'm a little nervous...
Looking up at the judge's stand, I see Aya's turned her microphone off, allowing herself to eat some crackers in the meantime…
Rinnosuke is… Rinnosuke. After enough of being Rinnosuke, he turns to Aya… "I didn't bring anything myself, you know…"
"Too bad." She's barely audible from his mic. "Get yerself a pretzel over break, mister…"
I can actually see the camera for the TVs as it pans around outside. It's this cute little white orb…
Wait. It's stopped inside our booth! I can see myself! Turning, I wave at the white orb!
"Hello~!" I call out to it! And, wave…
...It cuts to the judges. My presence seems to make Aya fluster about a little!
We haven't left our booth yet; we're just finishing our final checks and preparations. We wanna give it our all, out there!
"Alri~ght!" Aya suddenly yells into the microphone again! "It's time for another round! Now that we've gotten one of the trash contestants out of the way..." Wo~w. That's a rather blunt way of putting that…
"Let's try not to be meme trash, Sanae." Suwako-sama- stop using that…! You don't know the power of those words…!
...I take a moment to look around my booth. We've been called up next, so… euh. This would be the time where I think 'what if we're called up next', but um…
Right. Suwako-sama will be on drum duty. Her drum's got these blue and brown and green decorations! I've got this really cool green guitar, Hina has a mint green piano guitar… thing, and the harvest gods both have flutes.
I think we're ready! We've got our songs rehearsed- even if this'll be an offense kind of play, and um… yeah. I know healing magic, and most of us are gods, so I can just be greedy and heal myself constantly. Hehehe~!
"Our next contestants will be~..." Aya looked down at her paper. "...Native Faith! A~nd…"
O-oh, Gods, it's us, it's us, it's u~s! "Eeee~!" I already knew 'cause the door opened but aaa~h!
Suwako-sama turned to me! "Hehehe! Someone's excited…!"
...O-oh!
Putting my legs together, I steel my posture! I've got to focus...! My band's counting on me!
"Go- good luck, everybody…" Approaching the door with me, Hina holds up her keytar, giving us a delayed, timid smile. Awwh…
"Yeah! Best luck!" Minoriko gives us all a warm smile, too. "We'll get a lot of faith this way!"
Shizuha snorted. "Of course you'd say that."
"Yeah, I would." Minoriko pounced on yet another chance to push her fellow goddess' berserk button. "They love me! Some of them!"
...She tilted her head in solemn after-thinking. "Not… a lot of harvest actually happens, though…"
Yeah. This village is trash, and nobody's doing anything about it. Including me. Nnh… well- now's not the time to think about that. We gotta play well!
Shizuha grins back at her, already complacent with the village's… villageness. "Well, they think you're doing something, anyway. Meanwhile I actually do things…"
...You paint leaves warm colors, and kick them down from trees. I don't think most humans would know or care that you do that.
I look back at the screen, and see Aya discussing things with Akyuu…
"What the hell does this mean?" She's trying to speak with a hushed tone, but the microphone's picking it up alright. "Untitled Band Twenty? Is- is it supposed to look like that?"
Akyuu sighs. "That's uhm… you should go ask that band for their name. In the meantime just- just call up another band…"
...With that, Aya repositions herself correctly in her seat, and speaks into the mounted microphone on her stand. "...Sorry for the interruption! The second band performing in the guest exhibition is Lucifer's Love!"
...Good. That's- yeah, good. Who's that gonna be!?
Since we're all ready, I guess there's no time like the present.
I'm the first to step ahead, and the goddesses follow in my path. Some weird mist from the door's opening finally dissipates, and we get to take on the stage ourselves…
There's still dust on the ground everywhere, 'cause of that last match! The fluffles are all gone, though…
When we get onto the stage, the crowd actually begins clapping! We're not reputable as a band, but-... we're goddesses! Mostly…! We're already doing better than the last two bands…
Speaking of, I didn't know Mystia lead a band! Of, um, misfits, but still! And that weird Brad guy was there, and- isn't Seija a wanted criminal…!?
Across from us, I can see our rival band emerging from a door on the far right of the opposite stage. Uh...
...Wh- what are they… what are those outfits!?
Five scantily clad women confidently step onto the stage, dressed in-in… black, so- sorta ornate… fe- fetish clothing. They look like succubi.
Suwako-sama whistles! "Wo~w! They're putting Kanako's to shame!"
You- you're not helping, Suwako-sama~! That's- I'm gonna have to answer a lot of questions later 'cause of that!
...At my pouting, she looks over at me and grins. "...You look a little red, Sanae-chan." Wha- why!?
"I- I don't!" I fold my arms! "...An- and if I do, it's because the- their outfits are… outra-"
"Good looking?" Suwako-sama slips in a suggestion.
He~y… "Suwako-sama~..." That's the wo~rst. I'm like, half-embarrassed here just 'cause she brought it u~p. I see worse on the computer regularly…
Still, seeing it in person… it's something, alright. It's good that we're a few stages apart. I- I don't think my heart could handle becoming a complete lesbian on an open stage…
...The other goddesses position themselves around me and Suwako-sama.
Our amps and stereos float in behind us, each goddess carrying theirs with their respective levitation spells. Hina brought a really big amp, for some reason. It's bigger than me!
"Just relax, Sanae-chan." Suwako-sama gives me some actual advice. "Don't let their costumes distract you. Pretend they're in their underwear!" Al- almost actual advice…
As the audience's cheering starts to subside, I plug my guitar into the amp Hina brought, which is plugged into the speakers the harvest gods brought.
Looking over at the speakers, I see- why are there so many speakers!?
A row of twelve person-sized, wooden speakers sit in the back. I didn't even see those float out. Wha~t…
...I look over at Suwako-sama, and her drums are suddenly there. I wish I knew how to do those things… she probably shorthand-casted some kind of complex summoning ritual just to teleport it twenty feet.
...I give my guitar a practice strum-
Vrru~m… Oww~... too- too loud.
"He- hey, hey, hey!" I hear Minoriko shout over at me. "I haven't adjusted the levels yet! Hold it!"
Wh- why are they all on already!?
A face across from us on the opposing stage grabs my attention. That's… hey!
"Koakuma~!" That's so cool! It's awesome that she's in something like this, too! "Hey, Koakuma~!" Even if she looks like she's about to jump me and steal my soul. Friendly reminder: do not touch the succubus.
The other girls around her turn to her, furrowing their brows and pointing at me. Koakuma scoffs, and gives me a dismissive single wave.
...Really? Oh, well. Guess it's the peer pressure… the girls she's with look like typical popular school girls… except up to eleven, and they've all got huge- yeah…
...Koakuma's friends have lilac, black, purple, green, and pink hair. They've all got similar bat-like accessories- body parts, I mean- like hers. Except for the lilac-haired one. She's got these big wings… she reminds me more of like, a dragon, or something. Her wings and tail are maroon, and she's got two big horns on her head…
She catches me staring, and looks into my eyes. I trace her smooth, perfect features… before meeting her red gaze
She winks.
O- oh, Gods…
"Sanae-chan." Suwako-sama brings me back to the world in an instant. "Just relax. Focus. And, y'know…"
I look over at her.
"Don't look into their eyes." Suwako-sama grins. "You may wanna spam wind magic, 'cause I don't think this is gonna be fair."
...Wh- what do you mean!?
…
Seriously. "What do you mean…?"
Suwako-sama twirls her drumsticks, getting into position and not bothering to further inform me. Suwako-sama~! Now is not the time to pull out that riddle trope!
Poof! Poof! Poof! On the other stage, things poof into existence, emanating pink and pastel mist...
The succubus with the dragon-like wings now has a microphone in one of her hands.
Koakuma gains a guitar, and one of the other succubi gets a… thing. It's like a cylinder, and it has a lot of weird runes on it… is- is it a bazooka or something?
The other two succubi gain peculiar objects, as well. One of them brandishes two navy blue Japanese fans, and the other one holds something reminiscent of a… handle? It is a handle.
An ethereal blue line stretches from the handle, to the door their band came out of. She gives it a strategic tug towards our stage…
From the door came three cages. Inside the cages are fairies, munching on chocolate bars…
...One of them- a green-haired one- looks around, still munching on her chocolate bar. "Oh, look. People!" The other two are too busy eating, but they look. They don't really care, about being sealed in a cage...
The blue, bobby-haired succubus with the handle pulls on it again, this time pulling them to float along near the back of the stage.
With a single clap, Aya gets everyone's attention. "I think we seem to a~ll be ready. And- parents, you might wanna cover their eyes for this one!" Um…!
O-oh, right, we're supposed to be ready to play! Oh, oh, oh…!
I give my guitar a few practice strums-
Vrr, vrr~... Sounds good enough!
"Re~ady." The lilac-haired succubus's consent is made audible, her microphone mysteriously projecting her voice. It's crystal clear, too.
This is it. Even if we're not really expected to defend ourselves… this is still our debut, of sorts.
I take a deep breath.
"Ready~!" I yell!
Clapping her hands twice, Aya beams. "Let the performing commence!"
…And then, silence.
It's a really nice day, at least.
This guitar's getting heavy…
This is like some kinda stand off…!
I look over at the- oh, right, don't look at the eyes! I'll stare at their legs, instead. Wait- bad idea! Everything about looking at them is a bad idea!
...The succubi stay still. Are they-... waiting for us? Why~? I guess… I'll go first. They're supposed to be defending, but… they're doing nothing. So I'll take advantage!
Vrr~m. I begin with a few... simple strums-
Boo- boo- boom boom! Sound blares from the other stage! It's the sound of keyboards on full blast, beginning with some bombastic, loud notes…!
Ugh. That was totally to throw me off my game, and make me feel awkward. I'm not gonna let it work, though! Now that I know they're succubi, I know being bullies is just their way of being friendly!
...I think. It'll help me sleep at night when this is all over.
The fairies put down their chocolate bars, and stand up in their stout cages, getting ready.
Glowing and pulsing, the bazooka-like cylinder that one succubus brought is flashing a myriad of colors; all suddenly flaring from the runes. It seems to be the thing making their keyboard sounds.
Their vocalist takes to the air, her wings flapping with power. I can see gusts of wind lash against the stage beneath herself…
Guess we'll have to wait to chip into the song they're playing.
Once the keyboard noises from the colorful runic cylinder end, the lilac-haired succubus leans forward, her generous bust in clear view as she sings into the microphone.
"I~ know you're the wild, violent flame…"
Smug, Koakuma chips in with her guitar, playing the base notes of her kin's lyrics.
Fwa- fwa- fwam! Huge, person-sized purple bullets rocket out from her. They come in three long streams, which is… pretty easy to just float out of the way of.
Cra- crack! Suwako-sama erects some stone pillars to shield herself, since she can't necessarily move the entire drum set to dodge.
While we deal with the incoming bullets easily, their vocalist continues.
"I~, still smell your smoke, and I can't play straight with your game..."
At the end of Koakuma's brief replication of the vocalist's notes, the runic cylinder is held like a bazooka by its respective succubus. It blares, lighting up vibrantly again…
Fwoo~f… A pink and maroon cloud of dust rolls out of the cannon, towards our stage!
That's no good!
Vrm- vrr-... vrr! I strum my guitar in time with Koakuma's. I screw it up a bit at first, but I recover…
Since I'm playing the same notes, my guitar shoots a similar spread of danmaku! Eat giant green bullets! Ah- my own bullets blind me a little as I launch them. Uu~h…
Suwako-sama begins drumming to the beat of their song, sending out slow-moving, brown orbs. It's a slow, rhythmic drumming, and- I actually really like it… dum-dum, dum-dum, dum-dum, dum! Aah- waah!
FWAM! Ow! I got hit! Ugh- those big bullets- fuck… ooh, damn. Ti- time to start firing a little slower, jeez… so I can see the bullets.
Ominously, the cloud of pink gas begins to roll onto the bottom of our stage. Uum.
Wait! That last performance gives me an obvious idea!
As Koakuma's guitar segment ends, I shout over the keyzooka's blaring. "Aeroga!"
Fwifwifwoosh! Around me, a fierce gale rips out from myself. It flares across the two stages!
The wind pushes the pink and maroon gas cloud back into the succubi, but they don't seem to mind.
Her long green hair swaying, the succubus with the fans starts spinning. Her movement makes the gas disperse… out, and into the audience. Uh oh.
Woo~sh! Wha~t!? The vocalist just disappeared!?
Woo~sh! Instantly, she was back where she was, a powerful gale contained to an invisible column around her. "That doesn't mean, that I am yours. I'm not a fool, I have a lot to give..."
...It's more like paced talking, really. I expected something that stretched her vocal chords! That pointless flash step dodge was cool...
Picking up on Koakuma's chords, I mimic her playing as best I can, and return as much danmaku as possible. And- the chords kinda mimic the notes being hit by the vocalist anyway, so what I've gotta play is very telegraphed…
Quickly, the guitar segment ends. When the keyzooka flares, the flutes of the harvest gods behind me blare back. White bullets flick from their woodwinds, in lines!
Fwoo~f… More of that pinkish gas blooms outward from the keyboard bazooka. I steal a glance at the audience, but they don't seem very different…
The judges' stand now has a series of whirlwinds before it, likely generated by Aya.
"In any case, it's up to you, if you show that you can give mo~re than I got to give!" The succubus picks it up a bit!
Once she's finished singing, Koakuma continues to replay her notes, this time with full power. Guess we'll keep going until one of us gets hit by the danmaku… we really need to up our patterns!
The keyzooka unexpectedly blares with bombastic notes! It's also aimed up in the air-
Fwoo~fwoo~f… Fwoo~fwoo~f… More gas rolls out, thick and almost a deeper maroon now. I'm silently hoping that they're just making fog and not some kind of dirty gas… but, um, I've got a strong feeling it's bad...
Twirling my guitar around, I draw a blue pentagram in the air, and with my strumming hand, I send it outward at the vocalist! Maybe I can catch her off guard!
The blue pentagram solidifies as lines of energy, and spirals ahead! When it nears, she brings her wings in front of herself.
Fwash. The pentagram explodes into energy on her wings, and she promptly retracts them once my attack ends, unaffected.
...Wha~t!? That was my heavy attack button, too!
I glance at her eyes. She doesn't let me look away.
"It might be you, or maybe you… my mind is jumping back and forth and up and do~wn!"
Oo~h. My-... vision wavers, for a moment…
Everything becomes momentarily curvy... and- it looks like she's pulling me closer… but the distorted sounds of Koakuma's guitar remind me that I have to keep playing. Everything's dull and-... good.
...My guitar sounds really squealy to me, for some reason! Just... keep playing!
Ow! A little bullet hit me- oh- oh, right, danmaku- I have to dodge the danmaku! Oh, gods-
"Somebody come, and rescue me…" The beautiful, lilac-haired vocalist smirks at me, her red lips full. Excitement flares in her eyes. "Before an angel comes to take me round and rou~nd!"
Ugh...
My body warms up uncomfortably. I strum along to Koakuma's muffled guitar noises, trying to endure it. My guitar is loud, and irritates my ears, but I-... have to keep playing…
Their keyboard-like bazooka blares, and Hina's own keyboard blares in contest with it. A dark, murky aura is pulled from me and from the audience as she plays…
There's a murmur, from the people; the technicolor accented mist of black pulsing and churning as she called it back. I was wondering what the heck they were all doing...
The audience doesn't know what to do with itself, between the mist and the murky energy flowing out from them and into Hina. They're probably, um, horny too… because this gas is horrible.
Gradually, with the energy being pulled from me, my vision returns to normal and my hearing becomes normal again…
Ooh- there's more gas than I thought! Oh, this is bad! Really bad! I'm- sitting in a cloud! "Kau- kaugh…!"Get- get it out of me~!
"Kanako-sama~!" Too much smog! Need help!
Answering my plea, Kanako-sama comes to my aid! She's sitting with her legs crossed, hovering in the air near me...
"Kauf- kaugh…" This-... this fog… my- my legs are getting weak…
The succubus pouts at me, and I do my best to take in all of her eyes. There's- just something about them. "I only wanted you to, come over here… 'cuz I can think of something for me and you to do~!"
Suddenly, the cute and poofy caged fairies chip in with backup singing! "I! Only! Wanted! You! Too!"
Looking unimpressed, Kanako-sama claps once.
WOOSH! From her hand's impacts, a shockwave of wind encompassed across the entire village square. Instantly, the pink mist was dispelled, the hair of villagers billowing from the powerful yet controlled force.
"Kauf-..." Ugh…
I- I slowly descend from the air…
Hitting the floor, I drop onto my knees. Even still, my hands keep playing along to Koakuma's chords as best I can… which is a lot easier since I can hear them, now. My hands hurt… sitting on my knees is awkward… I- I just feel weird. Today's not a good day!
The backup fairies sing to Koakuma's notes, too! "Come over here! With me!"
But- there's danmaku coming! I can't give up here!
I- I gotta get my legs moving! Danmaku, danmaku incoming! Move!
"Nnh-...!" Wind pushes me off the ground, and from there I force my legs to get outta the way!
FWAM! A big bullet hit the ground. Eat it, you… thing.
"If I can be! Without, you!" When I reach middle of the stage's air space, I hear the fairies and their innocent accompaniment.
Narrowing her eyes, at Kanako-sama's presence, the gorgeous lead succubus continues... "If I could have another, 'nother dream… the devil would come back to pick me up with yo~u!"
FWOOM! Augh- ack! Ugh- from the bazooka thing of theirs- it just shot a column of gas at me…!
Taking off from the floor, away from the enemy fire, my body warms and numbs…
"Uck- ack…" Shizuka's choking on something, too. "Get- get off…! No…" Um!? Minoriko's stopped playing, and has decided to start touching her…!?
Hina- well, she just looks sad. As in- sadder than she typically looks. But- she's also- she's super horny. No- stop staring back!
How's this crap even work on goddesses!? It- it might be a power thing. Kanako-sama and Suwako-sama seem fine...
The fairies cheer again. "And I hope you'll… be mine, foreve~r!"
This seems… like a good time to fix us up, as any. I'm gonna have to put a lot of mana into this… and call on a miracle!
Positioned right here, in the center of my stage and a little out, so everyone can see me, I take a deep breath- bad idea- "Kh…"
Whatever…!
The camera orb floats up to me, and I half ignore it.
Woosh. I slide my guitar into the air beside myself. Bringing up an arm, I get ready to pose… I- I have to do something to counter their invasiveness, and throw them off.
The music nears one of the lull points, between verses, where there's only hypnotic, bobbing background noise.
My heart jumps…
"Kyu~n!" Leaning to the side, I strike a pose mid-air. I wink one eye, my hair swaying and breasts giving a single healthy bounce. My- red face only adds to how this probably looks…
The lilac-haired lead jolts back, as if my lewd, cutesy pose attempt met her physically.
FWOA~SH! Wow- loud! Oh my go~d! Um-...
Healing magic flushed through everyone. The entire crowd. Me, my bandmates, the people watching…
"O- oh…!" Aya eeped from the judges booth, the glow of the magic leaving her form.
Rinnosuke is covering his eyes. Akyuu looks like she's melting into the judge stand…
"Eh- eheh…" I think it cured my love drunkenness, too! I feel great now!
Kanako-sama sighed. "Was-... that really necessary?"
"Yes." It was embarrassing but it was good shut up please. Don't-... do not give me second thoughts about that! Aaa~h!
...It also cleared out all the enemy danmaku, just then. But, a lot of things can do that, so...
The pause ceases, and the succubus smiles. "I wanna be a girl that has a lot to give. Never caught alone, never shedding tears…"
While she sings, I steal Koakuma's notes, sending out the first waves of big dumb orbs! "Ge- guys, now…" I'm not sure if the goddesses heard what were practically whispers…
Fwoo- fwoo~! The harvest goddesses blow their flutes. Unlike the pitiful bullet streams from before, swirling beams reverberate out, homing towards their stage.
Suwako-sama steals the role of their keyboard bazooka thing, every simple simple strike of the cymbals vibrating the earth itself.
Like this, the tide of the battle has done a U-turn! Well- kinda. It's turned, I mean!
"Ugh…!" Their fan-toting, blue-haired succubus goes rolling, the homing flute beams piercing her and tossing her.
Koakuma came up to the one hardening her features as she toted the keyboard-esque bazooka. She kissed her friend on the cheek…
CHOO~M! Oh- waa~h!
I roll out of the way of the massive, pink mist-imbued air current that came from it. I- I think I inhaled some…
Fwa- fwam! From the fairies and miscellaneous movement on their stage comes some sloppy danmaku. The harvest gods take willing hits as they move further up the stage, flutes held high…
Hina even finds a moment to join in, even though she'd been quiet most of the performance! Everyone's braver now!
Her own chest jiggling to her movements, the lilac-haired succubus raised an arm behind her head… "So I need a woman, who understands every little thing and knows my fears…"
From between her chest, she draws a vial beside her microphone. From behind her head, she draws a bottle…
Cra- crack! Almost too quick to see, the glass smashes against our stage edge! Deep, pink gas plumes out, billowing up again…
Fwi- fwi- fwish! Flinging my guitar around, I draw another pentagram, this one of red, glowing light…
CHOO~M! Ugh- ga- gas stack-... my- my face…
Fwa~m! At- at least… I got the pentagram attack out. It coasts forward, shining like a beacon in the blurry, druggy poison…
BAM! It smashes into the runic keyboard bazooka-
Thud- thud thud! It slipped from her hands now, and she fell back.
Alright- where's… the way out? Oh- oh, crap…
I'm- I'm running out of air- trying to hold my breath…
I have to give up. I inhale-
Oo~h…
"Somebody come, and rescue me…" The vocalist succubus smirks at me. Excitement flares in her eyes. "Before an angel comes to take me round and rou~nd!"
Almost in sync with the notes, the details of her face become clear through the fog, as if my eyes zoomed onto her like a camera, or as if she got really close… where- am I, in here…?
I try to look away from the vocalist, but… all around me, all I see is the audience, arranged in a smeared, churning vortex around my vision. I-… can't look away…
My head tingles… so good…
My hand idly strums my guitar, wishing it was somewhere else-
Screee~!
Now it's very squeaky… it'd be really nice if I stopped playing. Now I really wish it was anywhere else!
Uoh. I try to float in the vortex, the blurry, barely visible lights of danmaku visible somewhere within it, but... I can't tell where anything is coming from, or where I'm going.
...I guess this is the ultimate result of trying to overthrow a succubus idol, or something. Slowly losing my mind to drug gas in an inescapable vortex of voyeurs. Ouch- ow... while getting pelted by danmaku!
Screee~!
And with a really squealy guitar! Uugh…!
I'll… have to live with it.
Scree-screescreescre-scre-scre-scre~! I don't know what notes I'm picking anymore. I can't feel my hands… she looks- I want her...
Just… keep playing...
Too- too much… it's… too much…
"Aaa~h!"
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO: HINA KAGIYAMA'S PERSPECTIVE ====
Oh, dear.
Vrum- vrr- vree~r! Vree~r- vree~r- vrumvrumvrum- vree~r! It seems Sanae's taken the initiative to go all-out in some kind of desperation solo. This must the the 'limit break' thing she sometimes talks about.
...In more seriousness, that's not very great. She's lost herself to her lust. However...
Bwoo~mp- pop- bwoo~mp. With my keytar, I keep the bulbous, hypnotic rhythm going.
Fwoo- fwoo- fwoofwoofwoo~! Salvos of homing lasers flare about from Shizuka and Minoriko, the two goddesses floating around one another to layer the band we're supposed to disrupt and steal the lead of.
Between Sanae's hormone-fueled insanity, and our rhythm, we have effectively stolen the song. The red-haired, little devil is too occupied with her own misfortunes to play back. The others are encumbered and unable to recover. And, how do you so simply play over a messy solo like that?
At the same time, Sanae doesn't make complete noise. Sometimes she plays to the rhythm, and other times she just sort of drops it. It's not bad exactly, but she's obviously afflicted. So, it's not good.
PAP- CLACK- CLACK! Moriya increases the volume of her drumming, as we've all picked up on ours as well. Not that we seek to overpower her, um, solo… but, we need a presence as well. Particularly here.
"Come over, here! With! Me!" The fairy accompaniment didn't get the memo, exactly. Actually… you know, they work still. We should've shot them.
"Su-..." Oh? "Suwako-sama~!" Oh. Um…
Kroo~m! Across, on the other stage, a stubby rock erects, tripping the little devil who began to move. "Aah- unf!" Probably not quite what Sanae hoped for, but quality help nonetheless.
"If I can have another, 'nother dream, the devil would come ba~ck to pick me up with you!" The arch-succubus sings to our song now, which is… probably good? She's the only thing on their stage that is impervious to small danmaku attacks.
"I! Only! Wanted! You! To!" This has been going on a while, so those fairies should be getting tired… and, I'd rather actually not shoot them, since they help make things not quite so chaotic. Ironically.
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO: SANAE'S PERSPECTIVE ====
…
"Come over, here! With! Me!" I can still hear the fairies, even if I can't see them… kinda.
"Su- Suwako-sama~!" He~lp! I think this cou~nts!
Scree-screescreescre-scre-scre-scre~!
My guitar's still annoying… I wanna stop…
"...If I can have another, 'nother dream, the devil would come ba~ck to pick me up with you!"
Her voice… I-I…
"Ahn…" I'm melting, here… meta- metaphorically, I think…
Ow- ow, ow! Hitting hard surfaces… that might or might not be danmaku shots! I don't know, anymore. I'm wet, and in pain at the same time. This sucks.
"Ou- ow~..." I shut my eyes. Can this stop already!?
They're forced to open. The lovely succubus stares into my eyes, smiling devilishly. "Oh I do hope that the time comes…"
The pain ebbs a little… be- because, wow...
"I! Only! Wanted! You! To!" The fairies make it all come back, however…
"The time comes for me, to have fun!" She blows me a kiss.
My hands idly slide on my guitar, sweaty and aching from thrashing against the strings. Screeee~!
"I'm talking 'bout a lot of fire!" She winks at me.
Wo- wow…
My fingers gently mix themselves up on the strings, making a ripple effect...
"I'm talking 'bout no getting tired…" She leans forward…
"Come over here! With! Me!"
"Forever and ever."
Yes- yes…!
"Together, forever."
Ye~s!
The loud keyboard notes blare in the background, barely audible.
And then-... "Aah- oh- aauh…!" Yes...
...
Ugh- ow… I- I land… and… ooh…
…
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
"So… what'd we all think?" Aya gives a final, confirming look to her fellow judges.
Soon later, the barriers between stages momentarily fall, and we receive our scores… well- Lucifer's Love receives their score. We're not on the chopping block, since we were playing to their song.
Akyuu holds up a six for music! "...Your singing voice was beautiful, Elma, but… your pacing was weird. Things were sort of sloppy, because no one really backed up any mid-battle commotion, but… overall, it was a fine job." Who's Elma…? Was that their lead singer?
Aya… held up a four. "...Ya ended up with the other team playin' half the song for ya. I dunno what ta say about that."
Rinnosuke finally brought up a five. "...They were over-reliant on harassment tools. While they did hamper Native Faith's lead guitarist, they were unable to afflict the gods to a meaningful capacity to save them later trouble. Their offense began to fall apart when their main tool was countered."
...With that, Aya gave us all a thumbs up! "So- you both did pretty passable jobs! Still… fifteen outta thirty, Lucifer. Makes me kinda feel like Native Faith did a better job attacking…"
...My hands are bandaged, for now. Some healing spells will fix 'em up, but… I got my blood all over my guitar. Drugs are-... a hell of a drug. Eheh. Eeh…
"...To be honest, I liked how it sounded." Idly, Rinnosuke lowered his card, turning to the others…
"Yeah- and yer a freakin' pervert, that's why yer on power duty." Aya's mean to him…!
...He shook his head. "You'll give people the wrong idea…"
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO: BRAD'S PERSPECTIVE ====
"My. You were really good…" On the screen, I saw not-Alma-Elma freakin'... shake Sanae's hand, in the demilitarized zone between stages!
Sanae fidgeted. "U- um, thanks…"
"...Was it good for you, too?" Getting closer, she seemed ready to embrace 'er!
"I- I've gotta go…!" Sanae instantly put her main character pants into gear, and got outta there! "Bye!"
"Fufufu~!"
...I look over at my cuddle friends.
Next to me, Mystia drinkin' this little tea she had ordered from the nearby village stalls. The good thing about it being a concert performance is that you can just go get food and snacks, while the music distorts horribly in the background. S'too bad readers don't quite get the same treatment, innit…!?
"If someone ever tries to touch you inappropriately…" I start giving her quality advice. "First, ya say: no. Then, ya get outta~ there! An' then ya tell a police officer…!"
Mystia gives me a haunted look dude. "Who the hell fed you a bag of sugar?"
Crunch. Ha-chan munches on this really nice cookie we got. Seriously- it's a great cookie. Like- we got fucking Christmas cookies for some reason even though it's probably mid-November, and no one likely celebrates Christmas here, but I always liked the in-baked colors! Man, I wanna eat cookie dough now. Nnh.
"I admit fault." Futo wasted her already limited cash to buy us Christmas cookies in the spirit of the Shinto, dude. Wait- she's Taoist. Ah, whatever. Japanese religions…! "And, the fault itself is enough penance for mine actions…"
...They taste like sugar and good, and home before it stagnated. Hoh…
The sky's beginning to darken now, a bit. Like… it's that fleeting blue that makes it real pretty. We need a bonfire back here, dude…
Hoh, hoh. It's also getting colder…
Kyouko looks over from our pile of stereos and amps, which is probably a safety hazard. "They're all set, Mysty. Gave 'em all a once-over."
"Goo~d." Mystia closed her eyes, nodding over her tea… "Just, wait to be called any time." Hoh…
...Seija floats back into the tent casually yet urgently, and hides under the picnic table.
Fwi- fwish! A village guard casts the curtain open.
...We all take an idle, quiet look back at 'em!
Fwish. Swinging the curtain to the booth shut, he thumps off.
"What'd you do." Mystia wanted to know!
...Crawling out from under the dirty table underside, Seija beamed. "...Y'know that old saying? 'Bout stealing candy from a baby?" Aaa~h, aaa~h!
==== FREAKIN GENSOKYO ====
END OF CHAPTER 52
PROTAGONIST: Brad, the Fluffle Slayer, Fairy Slayer, Accidental Human Slayer, Ph. D in Plant Hangers, Scarlet Liberator, Village Liberator, Eientei Crucible, Sinker of the Flufftanic, Assembler of the Legendary Air Ride Machine, Sky Climber, Amateur Espionage Practitioner, Illegal Fairy Harborer, Conscientious Party Member, Holder of Too Many Titles.
PRIMARY WEAPON: Tundra Bloomer - A earth-elemental plant hanger made from sturdy rock, with a flower curved around the hilt. With the addition of an enchanted shaft, it is also able to be used as a warhammer!
SKILLS:
Jackhammer - I can mine shit with it! I think…
Buff - Spend mana to boost physical attack power and physical defense for some time. Wears off quickly…
Tundra - Basic ice attack which erects beneath a target, making a chair-sized spike of ice.
Gaia Seed - Basic earth magic, which weighs down on a target and makes them tired.
INVENTORY:
Youkai Inconveniencer - A holy plant hanger, which works as a flail 'cause of the cross necklaces attached to it! Boosts the power of holy skills.
SKILLS:
Flash - Blinding magic. Works best on dark-elementals, but also works on youkai. Humans don't resist it, so it still works on them, with reduced efficiency.
Flashlight - It's a flashlight! Might blind dark youkai, I dunno…
Shine - Basic holy magic. Generates a holy orb in the target's body, randomly battering them with a raw holy gush.
=o=
Fairy Harp - Ol' reliable, fixed up with freakin' attachable strings and shit! Also a grate, an iron block and other shit. It's a freakin' disaster...
SKILLS:
Gust - Basic wind magic. Pushes the feeble. Fee~ble…!
Fairy Dust - Weapon status effect replaced with fairy dust. Wind attacks with this weapon get fairy dust all over the enemy, reducing accuracy and senses.
Sick Ill Harp Cords - Get ready for my next great mixtape…!
=o=
Flame Salvo - A red and crimson plant hanger comprised of purplish-red gems and crimson metals. Boosts the power of fire skills.
STATS:
Ignites things with physical impacts.
SKILLS:
Flamethrower Plus - A jet of fire. That's- that's it! It's a fucking flamethrower, 'cept fueled by magic! Does that make it more or less easy to put out…?
Fume - Makes hot air fume from the earth below. Might sear the feeble.
Berserk - Non-damaging fire spell which berserks a target for awhile. Can be removed with water or ice stuff!
Danmaku Adaptability - Now that there's a NERF gun on it I can shoot the good danmaku dude.
=o=
Vortex Hanger - Wind elemental plant hanger currently attached to the Yin-Yang flail as a crafting material. Granted a limited hover per swing when wielded, but that ability is what allows the flail-o-copter to fly now.
=o=
Deep Blue - A blue and silver plant hanger comprised of mysterious fantastical metals. Boosts the power of water skills.
SKILLS:
Freakin' Leaks! - Can produce limitless fresh hanger water…!
Geyser - Basic water attack. Gush of water erupts from the earth and might fling the feeble…!
Valve - I can control the water flow with this!
=o=
Yin-yang flail-o-copter - A flail with a standard, maximized Hakurei Yin-yang orb in the sling of it. Unable to have its powers fully activated, as only Reimu can truly harness the power of Yin-yang orbs. Minor affinities from the base orb transfer over, though! Crafted from a Hakurei Yin-Yang orb, a rope of panties, and two bra cups. Ropes were used to attach the Vortex Hanger to the yin-yang orb, allowing the flail to be used as a flying device, although it's a bit straining on the arms.
Sharper Than Darkness - A dark, runed plant hanger constructed from the shards of a dead man's sword. Deals dark damage!
STATS:
Attacks are darkness elemental.
Sickle end may make opponents bleed.
SKILLS:
Revenge - Skill that increases in strength when health is lower. Power doubles for each deceased party member. Power is increased by fifty percent for each defeated party member. Fairies count as defeated rather than deceased no matter what. Power and effects depend on current weapon. High accuracy.
Bloody Mess - User bleeds faster and longer. Oof!
=o=
Bee-Sheventeen-Bawmber - A mechanical plant hanger enchanted to make big booms on contact. Explosions are mostly knockback based, but I think it could gib particularly weak-willed people… magic is weird.
SKILLS:
Boom - Hitting stuff makes booms!
Pellet - Shoots a lemon-shaped danmaku pellet from the added barrel. Uuh...
=o=
Million Bucks - A basic green cast-iron plant hanger, from the aged cellar of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. It's a gift from Flandre Scarlet! Has an obsolete map of the cellar's maze, etched by Flandre herself, along with some shoddy enchantments!
STATS:
Lowers user's defense slightly.
Attacks are electric and holy elemental.
Attacks travel through matter
Attacks become magical rather than physical.
SKILLS:
Panic Attack! - Run faster when health is lower!
Magic Attack - Physical attacks are converted to magic attacks, and fluidly pass through objects.
Combo Jump - Allows the user to transition to jumping while mid-attack.
Aerial Plus - Forced aerial support! It's vaguely easier to hit aerial foes with it!
Air Slide Plus - Lets the user awkwardly air slide.
Glide - Replaces my double jump skill with gliding.
High Jump - Increased jump height while running.
=o=
Market Gardener - Critical hits during blast jumps! Otherwise, it's just a normal, old plant hanger. Named after a very similar shovel…!
NERF dart blaster - Nerf guns are cool and all, but don't try defending yourself with one. Please. Unless you're surrounded by fairies who don't know the difference- but y'know- that opportunity's a freakin' million to one.
NERF longsword - 'CAUTION: Do not jab at people or animals'… you know what that means! Maybe one day this will actually come in handy…
=o=
Kaguya Houraisan Disguise - Wear to become a NEET! Tons of pockets! Voice, face, and height specifications not included!
STATS:
75% Time resistance
=o=
Monk Robes - Wear to become a Buddhist! Actually pretty comfy…!
Butterfly Dream Pills - Makes you dream of being a beautiful butterfly!... now, if only there was a pill for lucid or wet dreams, and then I'd consider Yagokoro the doctor to end all doctors!
Remilia Scarlet Disguise - Wearing this as a tall manchild's probably not doing anyone with eyes any favors. Has resistances of sorts, but I'm not in a big fat hurry to find out what they are…
=o=
Toasty Yuki-onna Kimono - Best winter clothing twenty fifteen. Looks identical to a yuki-onna's kimono, and heats itself too! Yo ho ho!
STATS:
50% Ice resistance
50% Freezing resistance
-50% Fire resistance
-50% Burning resistance
=o=
Choujuu Gigaku Yukata - A metal leather Yukata which has copper-tinted accents. The band just- has more of these…?
STATS:
50% Wind resistance
100% Silencing resistance
100% Tired resistance.
Immunity to hearing damage and debuffs.
Wearer heals 25% more from friendly casts of Power Metal.
=o=
65,200 Yen - ...Yeah, just in a bag. It's about time I documented how much freakin' money I have! I should do this for potions, too...
Nine Health Potions - They give you youkai-like regen for like, thirty seconds! No chuggin' these babies to indefinitely survive the cold reaches of outer space. Unless the regen outdoes the asphyxiation, but I think I'd rather die by that point…
Five Mana Potions - Restores a bunch of mana! Fer humans… since it restores more mana than most will have in their lifetime.
PARTY:
London, the Multipurpose Combat Doll - What it lacks in brains it makes up for with a suit of armor and some OP utilitarian spells! Can cast basic fire, lightning, and ice attacks, both the magical and physical variety. Has lance, can shoot danmaku. Variety of attack commands now, including intelligent tracking, trailing, patrolling, and defending. Has mana pool for the stronk commands, though, so those should be used sparingly. I really have to remember to use her, at some point!
PRIMARY WEAPON: Shanghai Lance - Burly lance with jabbing ability. Mostly useful as a blunt object, it seems, and intimidation factor. London really likes it, apparently. London shouldn't have sentience, but I can't help but notice the awkward way which it just pauses before it swings this lance.
Hana, the Electric Elemental Stalker Maid - She's friendly, dude. She's getting better at using thunder magic, too! Cyan hair and eyes, likes to be fluffy, so on and so forth. I don't got a whole lot ta add about her… Oh, yeah, she's weak to earth magic, I think.
PRIMARY WEAPON: Sometimes can cast a slightly stronger lightning bolt… but it still can't fry people!
INVENTORY:
Probably some rocks - Yeah.
Kyouko Kasodani, the - A really snuggly dog girl friend! Man, is she snuggly! Can attack using her voice, as well as project in a number of really different ways!
SKILLS:
Project Voice - Voice… may be projected! Volume and specifics vary greatly. May be cast out separate from Kyouko's location.
Power Metal - Combo magic with Mystia! Drops two speakers from the heavens, and projects a short burst of metal from them. Does wind elemental, magical damage to all enemies before them, and heals all party members.
Death Metal - Combo magic with Mystia! Drops a wall of speakers from the heavens! Once ready, they blare music too, dealing incredible wind magic damage to all enemies, and applying great healing to all party members. Sometimes the speakers explode after!
Spell Cards - Danmaku skills not always relevant for all situations!
Flying - I dunno why.
INVENTORY:
X.L.R. 8 Microphone - Premium, high quality microphone, with a high voice ceiling for noisy, shrill users. Despite this, it's still of pretty good quality!
STATS:
Boosts the power of wind skills.
SKILLS:
Microphone - The microphone… works as a microphone. Some real shit, ah!?
Good Quality - It's also a pretty good one!
Deluxe Voice Module - Deals with Kyouko's insane voice! Also, hard use and feedback will not lower this item's durability.
Magic Finale - Last cast of mana before running out is thrice as powerful, and has special effects.
=o=
Choujuu Gigaku Outfit - Kyouko's band outfit! Fit with copper decorations, made of good leather, and looks like a kimono or yukata.
STATS:
50% Wind resistance.
50% Fire resistance.
Immunity to silencing.
Immunity to wind-tossing.
Immunity to blinding.
Immunity to paralysis.
Boosts the power of Power Metal.
Boosts the power of Death Metal.
Boosts the power of Project Voice.
Mystia Lorelei, the - Night sparrow youkai! She excels in blinding people and darkness magic. But, she also cooks food. Pretty normal as far as youkai are concerned. Eats people…!
SKILLS:
Night Vision - Can see better in the dark naturally. 50% blinding resistance.
Night Blindness - Her singing can blind humans, and some types of youkai. Can be resisted with blindness resistance, and somewhat darkness resistance.
Power Metal - Combo magic with Kyouko! Drops two speakers from the heavens, and projects a short burst of metal from them. Does wind elemental, magical damage to all enemies before them, and heals all party members.
Death Metal - Combo magic with Kyouko! Drops a wall of speakers from the heavens! Once ready, they blare music too, dealing incredible wind magic damage to all enemies, and applying great healing to all party members. Sometimes the speakers explode after!
INVENTORY:
The Red Axe - It's a guitar! Red guitar of power, rock, an' metal.
STATS:
Boost the power of wind skills.
SKILLS:
Shred Hour - Boosts the power of guitar solos!
Essence of Guitar - Resists durability loss!
=o=
Choujuu Gigaku Outfit - Mystia's band outfit! Fit with copper decorations, made of good leather, and looks like a kimono or yukata.
STATS:
50% Wind resistance.
50% Ice resistance.
50% Dark resistance.
Immunity to silencing.
Immunity to wind-tossing.
Immunity to blinding.
Immunity to paralysis.
Immunity to weaken.
Immunity to curses.
Boosts the power of Power Metal.
Boosts the power of Death Metal.
Mononobe no Futo, the Fengshui-Adept and Plate-Breaking Shikaisen - Mononobe no Fluffy-hair. She's fluffy, and a taoist. Kind of an asshole, but a fluffy one at that…
SKILLS:
Plate Control - She apparently has control… over… plates?
Telekinesis - Lift and control things with her mi~nd!
Royal Dragon's Arrow - A good arrow that she fires predictively from her bow. Always fired like a great bow, comin' way down on targets.
Spell Cards - I haven't even seen like, any of them…!
Other Skills - I really do not know what she's capable of!
INVENTORY:
Mononobe no Good Outfit - Futo's clothes! Really, really fluffy for an outfit, dude. Old-timey and stuff, too!
STATS:
50% Wind resistance.
100% Air-toss resistance.
25% Water resistance.
25% Fire resistance.
25% Thunder resistance.
Seija Kaku, the Counterattacking Amanojaku - A lady wit' horns and a mean glare, and looks kinda like Ryuko Matoi!
INVENTORY:
Seija's Outfit - What the hell is it, anyway… it's got a ton of up and down arrows on the bottom cut into the fabric itself, but at the top it's a simple-ass dress!
STATS:
100% Space resistance.
100% Nil resistance.
=o=
Bloodthirsty Yin-Yang Orb - A kinda similar lookin' red and purple yin-yang orb… where'd this come from!?
SKILLS:
Pledge of Demon - Lets Seija teleport in front of an enemy.
=o=
Tengu's Toy Camera - A fun lookin' pictobox thing.
SKILLS:
Apocalypse Lens - Lets Seija clear bullets by taking pictures of them!
=o=
Gap Folding Umbrella - A dangerous thing stolen from Yukari…!
SKILLS:
Stream Slip - Let's Seija move to… the other side of the… screen?
=o=
Miracle Mallet Replica - Dude! It's the big golden hammer from Smash 3DS!
SKILLS:
None - It's- it's just a big fuckin' mallet.
=o=
Substitute Jizo - A little statue lookin' thing. You could put it in a museum, dude…
SKILLS:
Life after Death - When user is defeated, they're fully healed.
=o=
Four-Foot Magic Bomb - It's a bomb!
SKILLS:
Anti-Magic Radial - Blast deletes danmaku bullets and some projectiles.
=o=
Ghastly Send-Off Lantern - A glowy, ghosty lantern with a blue flame in it. I kinda want one 'a those, 'cause it's pretty, but if I inevitably freakin' broke it, blue fire everywhere might be bad...
SKILLS:
Departure - A couple seconds of invincibility!
=o=
Nimble Fabric - A little, royal red cloth. Why, though…?
SKILLS:
Reality Fabric Splicer - Lets Seija hide in the fabric dimension, but only for a few seconds, during which she can't do anything except hide and pray.
=o=
SKILLS:
Reversal - The ability to flip anything over. This includes gravity, but also items, people, structures…
Spell Cards - Probably? I really don't know anything about her!
ACTUAL AUTHOR'S NOTE:
hello again friends
it has been a slow past couple weeks 'cause i've been taking it easy… still
even so i got some stuff done! here yo
honh honh honh
...anyway yeah
feeling as though this concert thing will drag on a bit… but FORTUNATELY we've got a certain someone's chapter next to break things up between concert segments! ho ho ho!
futo + kaguya + mokou feel like an awkward combination to work with for some reason… probably just 'cause futo is like me + religion + discipline a bit and it feels WEIRD
that and her MIDDLE ENGLISH DIALECT AAAHHH
as always, see you all next time!
==== A MILLION YEARS THEN PASSED ====
younger me was pretty brief last time dude
i dunno i might also be just as brief
also my old statement on futo makes a lot less sense now that i've developed her more in my headcanon; probably in that she's got a PLAYFUL JOVIAL SPIRIT in there somewhere beneath all the OLD and PRUDE and CYNICISM
anyway!
o two early fights removed entirely because they were not safe for life
o kaguya and mokou retconned
o mystia and kyouko retconned, except inward!
as a brief note they're also sort of funny to work with but in a different way
because as compared to everyone else, kyouko and mystia are very actually normal people
o sanae fight preserved because i think it works, but is given a new coat of paint in places and some touching up; still feel dicey about it but it stands out a lot better on its own than buried with some literal trash sessions
o hopefully new performances with choujuu gigaku channels some of that consistent musical energy people were looking for; seems a lot more apt than just FIGHTING
o fluffle band turned into both more and less of a gag; less weird fighty stuff with no place in literature and more fluffles just being fluffles; now with actual music!
based off of the shop class theme from bully essentially (which is just banging noises and demented keyboard sounds)
...you find it by googling 'shop class from bully'
oh yeah did i really never fucking provide a source for the succubus song jesus christ younger me
it's from UM JAMMER LAMMY; and the song itself is called A Taste of Teriyaki or was it just Taste of Teriyaki freakin' either or
GOOGLE will fill in the blanks for you dude
but yeah dude more change notes
o aya now actually explains the concert system to give rhyme and reason to things! let us see how many people are still confused by the attack/defense format
o yes i know attack/defense format is kind of confusing but otherwise it's pretty much just sequential performances for ten million years, which… can also be interesting, but that may as well just be a concert gauntlet
that and it's not as interesting as a very contextual squaring up sort of situation and you get to be artsy with descriptors here
let it be known that the next chapters might get a severe manhandling depending on how monotone they are to better create a consistant arc narrative rather than just INFINITE FIGHTING
this chapter might also actually even be the cap for how many performances will be seen per chapter- keeping it at one or two or maybe one in a half (aka one in the background) might be a thing
i've got some ideas on making it work too- should be real NEAT
o oh yeah, sanae casts KYUN now
nothing else is coming to mind at the moment!
but yeah this chapter had some fun moments even if writing it itself was kind of pulling teeth
when it's like that it has a fifty fifty to either be ironically well-sculpted or i just had no energy and crapped it out (and it's sometimes difficult to tell when you're in the middle of writing it)
then again i might look back at this in two years and still go "what RAW GARBAGE"
I DUNNO DUDE, DUNNO WHY I WOULD meanwhile for this chapter even then i could kinda see why i would… except i just cut less corners now as a whole!
proofreading it later might clear these things up, but i can already tell this is immediately better than what we had here
as always, see you all next time!
IMPORTANT NOTE: next matt chapter hasn't received attention to revisions as of this update! proceed with caution dude
